Bani Yas Island welcomes birth of Arabian tahr

ABU DHABI: Sir Bani Yas Island, the award-winning nature reserve developed by the Tourism Development&investmentcompany (TDIC), witnessed the birth of an endangered Arabian tahr, bringing the total population of the species at the wildlife reserve to four.

TDIC has celebrated the milestone and attributed this achievement to twhe cooperation between the environment and protection teams based on the island. TDIC also commended the commitment shown by the Environment Agency - Abu Dhabi, as well as the environmental life and forests workshop in overseeing the care of wildlife on the island.

The gestation period for the newborn female tahr was 4.5 months. The newborn tahr will remain under the care of its mother for three to four months, following which the tahr begins to fend for itself and forage on its own at the age of two years old.

This new addition to the park’s tahr family, which now consists of two males and two females, is a result of a comprehensive environment strategy that was spearheaded by the TDIC team in line with international standards in order to achieve the goals set out for its breeding and resettlement program.

TDIC acquired the animals from Al Bustan Zoological Centre in Sharjah - a non-proit wildlife preserve. As part of the agreement between the two institutions, the tahr would live in an environment similar to their natural habitat that would prepare the animals for their return to the wild for breeding.

A spokesperson for TDIC said, “Protecting the environment is one of the top priorities for TDIC. As an institution that makes signiicant contributions towards the preservation of land and marine wildlife in Abu Dhabi and its reserves, we are proud of this achievement, which was made possible through our close cooperation with our partners, the Environment Agency - Abu Dhabi as well as our talented staff.”